1st Human Trial of Oral Drug Against Radioactive Contamination

On Monday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said that the U.S. has initiated an inaugural clinical trial involving an experimental oral medication designed to remove radioactive contaminants in the body.

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The trail aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and processing profile of the experimental drug HOPO 14-1 through a dose escalation regimen in healthy adult participants.

The clinical trial is being conducted at a site in Plymouth, Michigan. The research team intends to enroll 42 healthy individuals in the age range of 18 to 65 years, and subdivided into seven groups comprising six participants each.

Each member of the initial group will be administered a 100 mg dose of HOPO 14-1. The subsequent groups shall be administered graduated escalating dosages of the experimental drug, culminating at 7,500 mg in the last group.

The participants will be subjected to rigorous safety surveillance and will be actively monitored for a duration of 14 days in order to assess the pharmacokinetics of the investigational medication, including its absorption, distribution, and elimination.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved two products for the eradication of internal radioactive contamination.

According to the NIH, healthcare providers administer these drugs intravenously to remove three radioactive elements, namely plutonium, americium and curium.

The NIH have stated that the formulation of HOPO 14-1 as an oral capsule represents a notably advantageous alternative to intravenous drugs in terms of their stockpiling, deployment, and administration during emergency circumstances.

The NIH has said that the preclinical research has indicated that HOPO 14-1 possesses efficacious potential against numerous radioactive contaminants comprising uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, and curium.